Monday, April 3, 2017

THE ADVENTURES' The Sea Of Love (Expanded Edition) reviewed!

THE ADVENTURES

THE SEA OF LOVE

(Expanded Edition)

The
Adventures rose like a phoenix from the ashes of Irish Punk/New Wave band Starjets. Vocalist Terry
Sharpe and latter-day guitarist Pat
Gribben formed the Pop-oriented outfit (along with Pat’s wife Eileen, Spud Murphy, Tony Ayre
and Paul Crowder) and released their
debut album in 1985. Depending on which country you were in, the album was
called THEODORE AND FRIENDS (in the UK and Europe) or THE
ADVENTURES (in the U.S.). While essentially the same album, each
version featured different mixes of the core tracks (“Send My Heart,” “Another
Silent Day”, etc.) and different artwork.
The album’s shimmering, glossy production accented Gribben’s melodic
flair and Sharpe’s vocals. The addition of Eileen’s vocals added a nice depth
to the harmonies, of which there were plenty on display. While the album received
good reviews and they earned significant airplay on both sides of the pond, The
Adventures didn’t achieve the success they so richly deserved.

After a three year break and a label
change, the band returned with THE SEA OF LOVE, a remarkable album that
traded their shimmering gloss in for a warm and earthy sound. The melodies and
big dramatic production were still present and accounted for but there was less
studio gimmickry and more acoustic guitars, pianos, and traditional folk
instrumentation. More focused than their debut, THE SEA OF LOVE was an album that embraced the senses and stayed with
you long after it was over. The album’s lush production washed over the
listener like a comforting embrace. “Broken Land” was the album’s first single
and the band’s biggest commercial hit. That track and the rest of the album
showed a huge leap forward in regards to songwriting, arrangements and
emotional depth. While never a light-hearted band, THE SEA OF LOVE was certainly
a more ‘serious’ album than their debut.
Most bands needed to release many albums to get to this level of
maturation but The Adventures skipped all of that and went straight for the
jugular on their sophomore release. So many high points here including the
aforementioned “Broken Land,” the lead-off track “Drowning In The Sea Of Love,”
“The Trip To The Bountiful (When The Rain Comes Down),” the Poptastic “Heaven
Knows Which Way” and so many others. Even the rocking “Hold Me Now” is still a
beautifully lush track regardless of Gribben’s crunching guitar. THE SEA OF LOVE was timeless album that still sounds fresh and relevant today.

This expanded edition includes tracks taken from their singles and
includes single versions, B-sides and even their rare cover of John Lennon’s “Instant Karma.” Although
this album is just a few months shy of 30 years old, THE SEA OF LOVE should be held up as an example of what a proper ‘album’
should sound like.